The invention relates to apparatus for heat treatment of continuous textile products, such as thread, ribbon or strip material, of the type having an arrangement of vertical furnaces through which the product passes successively upwardly and downwardly, between hot or cold air blowing nozzles and suction nozzles alternately supported in pairs, in cantilever fashion by two spaced vertical furnace ducts the upper parts of which are connected respectively to a blowing fan and an exhaust fan, the last furnace being provided with means adapted to form a height adjustable partition which divides each of the two ducts of this furnace into an upper hot air treatment zone and a lower cold air treatment zone, this latter zone being also equipped with a blowing fan and exhaust fan.
In known apparatus of this type, each of the said movable partitions is constituted by a slidable wall which is moved within the duct. An object of this invention is to provide apparatus in which the movable partitions are of a different construction which is easier to use.
To this end, according to the invention, the means adapted to form the said movable partition is constituted by a series of horizontal baffles vertically spaced within the corresponding duct and selectively operable such that one of said baffles in a closed position forms the partition in question, the other baffles being in the open position. Without having to move the position of the baffles, one can thus form a partition at any desired level, simply by closing the corresponding baffle at this level, whilst leaving the other baffles open.
The invention will be better understood by reading the following description and examining the attached drawings which show, by way of example, one embodiment of apparatus for heat treatment of strip material according to the invention.